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--User support--

--Project and Goals--

Our Mission

The argument for one laptop per child is simple: many children—especially those in rural parts of developing countries—have so little access to school—in some cases just a tree—that building schools and training teachers is only one way—perhaps the slowest way—to alleviate the situation. While such building programs and teacher education must not stop, another and parallel method is to leverage children themselves by engaging them more directly in their own learning. It may sound implausible to equip the poorest children with connected laptops when rich children may not have them, but it is not. Laptops can be affordable and children are more capable than they are given credit for.

Once upon a time only the very adventurous could travel and only a few privileged individuals had access to knowledge. Technologies like the compass, paper, and printing changed the world by expanding these limits. Today there is the opportunity for Ethiopia to revolutionize knowledge once more, by participating in a revolutionary use of digital technology that will empower school children to explore the most distant places and to access knowledge on an unprecedented scale.

Throughout the world, computing and communications technologies are sparking a new entrepreneurial spirit, the creation of innovative products and services, and increased productivity. The importance of a well-educated, creative citizenry has never been greater.

Most people see a natural connection between computers and education. Computers enable us to transmit, access, represent, and manipulate information in many new ways. But they can do much more than that. They can move beyond static information-centric views of computing and learning by taking full advantage of new computational technologies, such as those in the One Laptop per Child (olpc) program. These will enable students and their teachers to become better learners and thinkers.

Other mission questions

Evidence for OLPC's educational theory?

In response to some of Lee Felsenstein's issues with the OLPC program, he cites your lack of evidence that your theory of how children learn (esp. in developing worlds) is flawed. While he is no expert, as I read through this wiki, you say things like "we have 50 years of research", and that a lot of your board members are steeped in child-technology education, but you don't seem to give any definitive evidence that your idea is any better than anyone else's. The best I can find is the wikipedia article on inquirty-based science, citing two sources.[1] Anyhow, while I'm no expert on the subject, peer-reviewed publications supporting your educational theory would be helpful for laypeople to understand the science behind your logic, besides your organization just saying "it's right because we think so." It also would give more creedance to your values, which would be nice to deflect the critics. Thanks. Rhetth 17:20, 5 January 2008 (EST)

Laptops for under privileged children in Pakistan

Please let me know how I can get a few laptops for children from poor areas in Pakistan. In your Give 1-Get 1 option, I would like to Get and Give to the kids in Pakistan in the area I am helping. I am currently concentrating in an area where most children are on the streets trying to make a living and help their families. These children are very young. As of now, I have about 19 whom I am putting through school.

I am very keen on getting them these laptops, as I believe it will motivate them to attend school and develop a love for learning. I believe it will have a tremendous impact on their lives and will make it better all around. It will also encourage those, who are not currently in schools, to join a school.

If I can get a couple of laptops to start with, so I can introduce it to them, I would greatly appreciate it. I sincerely pray that the OLPC can help me.

Internet connection

We have wireless network connection at our house (Comcast & Apple Extreme Airport). The connection is a secure one - but not a closed network. However, the XO laptop can’t locate our network. How can we fix this problem? Thanks.

where is the computer?

I bought the XO back in December, knowing at the time it would be a bit before I recieve it. But it is now March and I have not heard from anyone since I recieved the email thanking me for the give one get one program. I would also like to know if I use that letter for my taxes or is there a more proffessional reciept that I need? Please respond as I have been feeling that this was just a large hoax and I was sucked in by wanting to help. Kelly Coltas kcoltas@pasty.com

help me help

I am an internationally recoginized scientist with teaching experience on three continents. I am infatuated with what you are trying to accomplish and wish to contribute actively and often. While I am a well educated user of utilities,I am not a programmer and feel I need a mentor to help me learns the system and find useful ways to contibute. Is there anyone out there willing to assist me? I don't even know where to look for a reply. I can be reached in the windows world at JFKearns@gmail.com. Please help me find my way in.

John Kearns
Frederick, MD USA

Music Makers on the OLPC

Hello -

I am trying to connect to those out there that use the OLPC as a creative music sound making device...

Thank you!
michelle king
san francisco

please email me at missmmking@gmail.com

I know this is an old issue on WPA but I have exhausted all options

WPA2 connection through Apple Airport Extreme, build #656

ran the Wpa.sh script manually and could see my AP but it asks me again and again the 'Wireless Key Required'. No matter how many times I entered my network password, it wont help. Had gone and deleted the networks.cfg file and rebooted but that didn't help either.

How do we connect to another user of olpc in another country, make friends, to have friends in a chat area? How can we connect to a classroom in another country?
My daughter loves her computer but is having difficulty connecting to other users

lern programing

is it able to prosed an computer language like as c++,c+,java etc.

Will magnetic case latch harm XO?

I purchased a small bag for my daughter's XO. The bag latch stays closed by using small magnets.

From my reading, I know the XO itself uses magnets in the hard case.

Is there any risk of magnets in a soft laptop case harming the XO over time?

Thanks!

Can I return this XO for refund?

If so many people are waiting to get one they can have mine.
I am proboly going to send it back. It is usless to me.
My kid doesn't hang out at Starbucks much and it is just very NON USER FRIENDLY!
Andrea

Bridging the Digital Divide

I am a digital media instructor in San Francisco. We teach underpriviledged youth in the Bayview/Hunters Point and surrounding districts. I am curious to know if you donate to students who are in the U.S.? Thanks!

Will Hammond
www.baycat.org
email: willhammond@baycat.org

Uploading m3u files to listen to.

How do I upload and listen to a m3u file from an online book?
thank you, Buddy

money

exactly how much money is the video chat laptop?

how do you copy and paste

I am part of the non-profit Children of the Nations (www.cotni.org). We run several schools for underprivileged children in Sierra Leone, Malawi, Uganda and the Dominican Republic. We are interested in adding computer curriculum to help the students learn the skills that they will need to be successful after graduation. How can i get a hundred OLPC computers for my schools in these countries?

Thank you for your consideration
stuart.scott@hotmail.com

Display has faded away

The display of my G1G1 OLPC all of a sudden faded away, i.e. there is almost no contrast left.
What I can see with full brightness are the colored items (but also the colors are like washed out).
The activities symbols are almost not visible.

The mouse cursor is not visible anymore while moving.
This makes it almost impossible to navigate with the mouse.

I have just installed the OS 656.

I appreciate any help
take care
Markus

Why Use the Constructivist Approach?

Why is OLPC supporting the Constructivist approach to education, instead of the standard "instructivist" one? Why not just use standard educational software, instead of going to the great effort involved in developing a whole new ecosystem of Constructivist software? There seems to be an implication in the Mission Statement that with Constructivism children can learn on their own, or at least with much less teacher input, than under the traditional method. Is that the reason? And if so, why do think that Constructivism makes it possible for children to do this?

hi. we are wondering if we could send some computers into are villiage in punjab? If you can, can you please send us the info at majorbhatti@hotmail.com. also if u cant can we buy a computer off you, and send it to are village ourselves?

NO WIRELESS SIGNAL (EVER)

I have a network with 2 laptops and 1 desktop. I brought this XO computer home in December and never tried to connect to the internet. I went online to read the user manual so that I may go online. When I click the network, there are NO dots (as on the screen from my desktop where I see the user manual). I tried to go through linux and when I type iwconfig, it simply says no wireless signal. Is this an error with the computer? I read all of the help and could not work it out. Please let me know exactly how I can make it work. Thank you.
Also: Is it possible that the computer is defective and not able to connect wirelessly?

help with my olpc

hello i'm rosie and i don't how i can get sound to her what their saying on my olpc.
.

Reset Settings

How do I reset my OLPC XO Laptop back to factory settings?

music makers on the olpc

how do i add music to my computer. i have searched the web looking on how to doit and when I've found the the website that can help me i didn't get it so plese give me easier nd helpfull step on to add music to my olpc computer asap.

thank you

THE FLASH PLAYER STOPPED WORKING IN MY XO AND I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO REINSTALL IT FROM WIKIPEDIA AND I CAN'T.ANY IDEAS?

git://git.infradead.org/users/marcelo/libertas

How do I download this to my pc? My browser doesn't understand the git protocol

I believe that GIT is for pulling down whole repositories of code so you probably need a client (could be just a command like tool like FTP) and its not something you do in a web browser. That's my guess and I hope it gets you started. If you want more specific intructions you can try e-mailing or development list: http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel

Record activity no further works

Hello,

My name is Andrei (Andrew) from Romania and I am 12 years old. I have an XO laptop since March 2008 and until now I was very satisfied with it. The problem is that for several weeks the record activity is no more functional. I can not take picture and record video and audio, I only can view images. On the right bottom side of the screen it appears all the time "Your disk is full" but this is not true because I have erased all the activities from the Journal, that is now empty.
I can not take picture and record video and audio both pressing the right button and clicking with the mouse properly on the screen. What do you think is the trobleshooting and what can I do about it in order to activate again the record activity?
Thank you very much and best regards,

Andrei

Hi Andrei,

I hope you check this page again to get a response. I think the best idea is to try sending an e-mail to help at laptop.org (change the "at" to "@" for the full e-mail address). There is a team of volunteers who respond to those questions. They may take a while to answer but should be able to comment eventually. My guess is that there are some files of some kind on the XO which are taking up space. The problem is finding them and removing them. If you don't mind losing everything you have on the XO and starting over, you can try upgrading to the latest version of software. To do that, see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_Notes/8.2.0.

give one, get one--getting laptops to U.S. programs

I am considering soliciting small donations among a large group of people for the the "give-one, get-one" program. Then, I'd like to donate the "get one" laptops to some local education program in a low-income area. Does someone have experience doing something similar with this program, or do you know of restrictions that could prohibit this?

Thanks,
Kristi Leach
New Port Richey, FL

Hi Kristi,

There could be restrictions. Its up to you and the people you work with to figure that out. You also need a longer term relationship and plan. Just delivering some computers (even one as well designed as the XO) to a school is not enough to make an education project. That's my opinion. If you can work with the school over time, understand what they need, support them in achieving what they need etc. then you can make a bigger long term difference.

One organization that has delivered the full package successfully is Wavplace. See: http://www.waveplace.com/ They have one deployment in Florida too! Contact them and tell Tim I sent you his way. If you raise money for them to use in a deployment I think they can effectively bring in all the additional support needed to make it a success.

How is child defined? (age)

What are the requirements for a child in regards to age? What is the beginning age these laptops are designed for?

What is the youngest age these laptops actually go to?

Thanks!!

They are designed for 6 - 12 year olds. Older kids and grown ups can use them too. Especially the technically inclined older folks will enjoy the graphical programming environment. On the lower end, younger kids can use them too but you may need to come up with some special programs. The newest thing I have seen for young kids is this one: http://xent.com/~bsittler/yay-bee-see.html Someone is making that available for the XO. For details see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Yay-bee-see

It looks like fun and now that my kids are older, it reminds me how much I miss reading Dr. Seuss :-)

download this book "pale ink", step by step instruction possible?

how to download this book onto the xo olpc?
can you help me by giving me a step by step instruction?
once i have successfully followed through for this download, i will be able to do it for the other books.
Thank you for your kind patience. Swannjie

Cannot install new hard drive!?

I have bought recently the drive:
Hitachi DeskStar 7K1000.B - 1 TΒ - 7200 RPM - 16 MΒ - SATA II (bulk edition) and when i connected it to my pc after a long period of showing the bios picture says something about to connect a cable of 2x12V and reboots. After the reboot starts normally but does not find my drive, neither in the system bios and in the OS.

Now my pc works great except that sometimes stacks for 3-4 seconds and then continues regular. My mainboard has 4 SATA which i already have 3 on them and i tried to disconnect an older drive and connect the new but still no luck! What is the problem?

What if my laptop doesn't start up properly?

I successfully start my laptop several times. Then, the next time, it just gives me a screen with the OX from which I can do nothing. I can't type. I can't restart. There's no cursor. How do I fix this?

Charger stops working

My charger seems to have stopped working. I've tried several outlets in the house...no go. How do I order a new one...or is this a problem with the computer. The computer powers up still.

<3

where can i buy a 100 dollar laptop?

Transmittal

If a laptop is brought from the USA to Nigeria, is it possible to transmit e-mail from Nigeria back to the USA with that laptop?

What is "XO"

Has anyone wondered what is the full meaning of the term "XO"? I have read a lot of documentation on OLPC webpages but i have not seen this abreviation "XO" defined.
Can someone provide us with the meaning please.

where can I get a lit showing SYMBOLS and the meaning of Symbols for connections of my laptop and pc?'

how can i get rid of the bugs, worms, and other viruses of my XO laptop? because it is too slow to load

Windows XP for 1st-Year G1G1 Donors?

Will donors who participated in the original G1G1 be able to load Windows XP on their OLPC machines?

The contents of this page are considered outdated and some of the information may be stale. Please use information here with caution, or update it.

Our Team

How will this initiative be structured?

The XO laptop is being developed by One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a Delaware-based, non-profit organization created to design, manufacture, and distribute laptops that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education. OLPC is based on "constructionist" theories of learning pioneered by Seymour Papert and later Alan Kay, as well as the principles expressed in Nicholas Negroponte's book 'Being Digital'. The corporate members are Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Brightstar, Chi Mei, eBay, Google, Intel, Marvell, News Corporation, Nortel, Quanta, and Red Hat.

Design Continuum collaborated on the initial laptop design. Fuseproject is our current industrial-design partner. Red Hat and Pentagram have been instrumental in designing and building the Sugar interface. The open source community has been an invaluable partner at all stages of the software development process.

How can I get involved in OLPC in a given country?

The OLPC project does not manage the purchasing, distribution, or implementation of individual countries. To get involved, you should contact the country government (probably the Department or Ministry of Education) locally. In Uruguay, the organization managing the implementation is called Ceibal after the national flower.

Can a team carry out an OLPC project in their country of origin, if they are from an African country?

Other Team questions

Upgrading the browser

I love my little computer! I got my email from Comcast's website. It told me I needed to upgrade my browser, and then gave me choices for Windows or the Mac. The OLPC computer uses Linux, correct? So, which browser upgrade do I click on? I'm a Mac user, so I don't know about Linux.

Thank you

Dell power internal short

I just bought a new power adapter for my lap top but it acts like its not plugged in and my screen keeps flickering. What can i do about this problem....i feel like i can't move my laptop an inch with out it messing up the connection.

digital pics

can i download pics from my digital camera to this computer? if not then what iis the memory card slot for?

Sustainability

Hello,

I work for an international development agency many developing countries around the world. I find this initiative interesting, but question the sustainability - what kind of technical support to communities/children receive? How are technical failures or difficulties managed? It is of questionable usefulness to provide tools without any instruction or support in case of problems - and, no matter . I would be interested to hear about any sort of follow up actions that are provided.

printing

how can i print off my xo?

Forcing memory flash

My problem is that I've tinkered with my XO AFTER I've updated it to the latest (711) version.

When I attempt to flash it back to a "clean" 711 installation, via USB, (starting with the 4 game keys pressed down) the process appears to see that the XO alread is at the latest version, and nothing is done. I've also tried to reinstall an older (656) version, prior to reinstalling 711, but the 656 version won't install.

Any ideas on what I might be overlooking?

Thanks!

help lee w/ XO

How can you acsses videos, music and games with out it turning black,on the web?

HOW CAN I BUY A LAPTOP

If I am interested in buying one of these laptops for myself, how can i buy one?

HELP ME

I bought a laptop (and donated one) and have NEVER gotten mine to work.

It doesn't sing on to our wireless system and is faulty. While I believe in helping all, this is really upsetting that my 9 year old (we've had it a year), has NEVER gotten this _____ to work.

How do I update fix the software? Where can I send this ?

I am at wits end. There is litterally no help on this. We recieved NO guide or anything.

Granteppler@aol.com

PS we give to all kinds of charities and donate our time and money. This has been the least productive. If the one I bought for someone workls as porrly as this one...

help ticket entered at help@laptop.org

organizational structure

Why is it necessary to have a natch between the goods and services an organization is providing and the organizational structure?

Ownership and theft

Other social issue questions

--Purchasing, Distribution, and Countries--

Give 1 Get 1

There is a general page about the program at XO Giving. That page includes some questions that should be moved to this page (if you can help, great).

General responses to shipping issues

Oh Canada... We at OLPC are very sorry about the Canadian shipment situation: we underestimated the time it would take us to fully work out the import duties and taxes and we were not clear in our communication to you. We apologize for everyone with a child who will not receive a laptop this year. You can visit the laptopgiving.org website to download a gift card that lets your child know that an XO laptop is on its way; it is obviously not the same as a laptop, but we hope it helps in some small way. We are working on the logistics of getting XOs to Canada: everyone should have their XO in the January/February time frame. The team at OLPC wants to thank everyone who has thus far participated in Give One Get One. Thanks to the generosity of Canadians, more than 4000 children in the least-developed countries will be receiving laptops in early 2008. --Walter 20:39, 20 December 2007 (EST)

Checking our list... Some of you are comparing notes and noting that some later-day donors got laptops before Day One donors. (I can personally attest to this, since I was the very first person to order a Give One Get One laptop and I have yet to received it.) We did have a glitch and rather than lose a full day's worth of shipping, we shipped to some later-day donors. We did this only after first confirming that we would have enough laptops to ship to the Day One donors by December 24. (We also moved to one and two-day shipping to speed things up.)
We appreciate everyone's generosity (and patience); we are doing everything we can to get laptops out as quickly as possible. --Walter 13:06, 21 December 2007 (EST)

Reference Number for T-Mobile HotSpot Offer

I have received my laptop. I am trying to determine my "Give One Get
One order reference number" so that I can activate my T-Mobile hotspot
offer. Where can I find this number?

Success of G1G1 program

I have read several articles about your project, and the last one I read this weekend (a month old Newsweek since I have been traveling) and I have given to the G1G1 program. Will you be posting information on your website as to the success of this program? How many are given, whether the 2 week window was uniformly used or if it peaked then ebbed or vice versa, etc.?

Good luck with your program.

Dr. Elisa H. Barney Smith

Other G1G1 questions

new version XO2

Will those of us who participated in the give one get one be able to do so with the new version?

The "Give 1 Get 1" program will run again at the end of this year. XO2 will be available in 2010. That's all I know!

dansguardian

how do you download & install dansguardian using xo laptop terminal?

please leave step by step moron proof instructions. thank you.

Computer Education in Remote Areas

We intend to start basic computer training in rural areas of Chhattisgarh, a backward State in
in Central India where people are economically very poor and have no or little access to
Computers. We wish to start mobile vans which will reach out to the villages in the interior
on a pre - scheduled programme alongwith necessary training materials and a tutor.
Will it be possible for your organisation to help us in our mission ?

Computer Education in Remote Areas

We intend to start basic computer training in rural areas of Chhattisgarh, a backward State in
in Central India where people are economically very poor and have no or little access to
Computers. We wish to start mobile vans which will reach out to the villages in the interior
on a pre - scheduled programme alongwith necessary training materials and a tutor.
Will it be possible for your organisation to help us in our mission ?

Medium answer: Given the characteristics of the project, the OLPC is initially available only to national government agencies—e.g., Ministry of Education—allowing us to achieve the initial economy of scale and a sufficiently large impact to make it sustainable. There are plans and ideas on how to expand our market to include other smaller and/or distributed organizations that will cater to people, places and situations where government agencies are unavailable - in the future and most likely collaborating through and with other parties.

Trying to satisfy personal, individual or otherwise 'isolated' retail requests (many present in this section) will divert precious energy that would otherwise be more effective at larger scales and targets. This does not imply a lack of interest or sympathy towards these requests, many of which are at the heart of our mission, but rather a physical limit that has to do with trade-offs between wishful thinking and practical realities. By no means does this preclude or try to impede that private, NGO and other grass-root organizations or people lobby in their target countries to be included as recipients or to participate—it just means that they'll have to be a little patient and not lose sight of their dreams and try to match it with our timings.

Keep alert, maybe in the near future there'll be news that will allow us to cater your special demand.

Future answer: YOU CAN, probably, almost. Quanta, the manufacturer of the OLPC laptop, may start selling $200 laptops in 2008 or so that resemble the OLPC laptop. See this.

Will it be distributed in developed countries?

Yes. In the US it has been distributed most prominently in Birmingham, Alabama. As mentioned in the countries section, the decision to distribute in any particular country (including the USA and other developed countries) does not depend on the OLPC but on the government's decision.

Note must be taken that developing countries are the initial and ultimate target countries for the OLPC, although it does not preclude other countries from participating.

Can NGOs and charities get them?

The short answer: see the XO Giving page. Groups should refer to the Give Many page. Individuals should refer to the (retail) availability page.

The OLPC efforts are currently focused at national level, and although we would love to make it available without restrictions, this would disrupt and overload our launch process in order to deal with the vast number of NGOs that are interested in participating. After the initial launch, plans include the opening up to include them. See here.

Who will get one?

As much as we would like to see an OLPC in the hands of every child on the planet, practical issues and humanitarian criteria help decide the first people to get laptops:

Children and teachers in developing countries whose governmental leaders have partnered with OLPC

Other Distribution Questions

A Word To The Wise

At least one person has reported an ordering problem here (see below). I ordered our OLPC via Give1Get1 online late November 07 and received it about 30 days later (US). I hadn't seen the recommendation below and did not contact OLPC ... the ordering process worked smoothly.

'After ordering within the first 25 min of the initative, I've been waiting anxiously to receive the unit. I called to try and get more specific info to be told that, even though a payment was processed and deducted from my account, there was no record of my order anywhere in the system. I now have to wait 2-3 days to be contacted by a supervisor to begin sorting this mess out. This means that, regardless of my effort to act as quickly as possible AND being one of the first responders, there is no way I'll be receiving the unit in the Dec window. I HIGHLY recommend that you contact OLPC to verify your order even if, like me, they had no trouble charging you the money for it.'

zelmono

Countries

You can use the edit links in the questions below to answer questions. Even better, however, would be to use the "Reorganize questions" link above, so that you can move the "<noinclude>" tag after the question you answer. That hides it from this page, so it only shows using the "See all questions" link above.

Why some countries and not others?

The reason is quite simple: the OLPC has made an offer (an inexpensive laptop) to national governments (not individuals or NGOs). Countries interested in the offer then decide if the offer is of their liking or not. If it is, negotiations and/or talks can start with the OLPC, and it's only then that they appear on the OLPC radar, and given a color/status depicting the level of commitment or interest.

What if I don't like my country's color?

If your country is color-coded in a hue with which you don't agree, you should lobby that country's government to start talks with the OLPC.

How can a country get involved?

By starting talks with the OLPC at national or ministerial level—minister or similar high-ranking government officials—not at individual level. Individuals should lobby their government to participate. More info.

Further details on the OLPC community's work with specific countries can be found at Category:Countries.

Other Country questions

Afghanistan

Alam to OLPC. ITS GREAT TO HEAR THAT THE OLPC team has a program to give a chance to the poor countries to develop in IT sector. nice job.

But my question is that, that i have done lots of work on localizing my country languages, but no seen here in wiki.laptop.org hope that to see in which category is my country, what needs to be localize, and wot to do for children to get more benefits from OLPC.

There is no god worthy of woship except Allah and Muhammad is his final messenger.

May peace be upon the mujahideen of Afghanistan

Sincerely,

Uman Mansour

Nigeria

When will XO pilot rollout occur in Nigeria? What is the rollouot plan for that country (i.e. will XO's be deployed in schools in certain regions)? Where are pilot projects already happening?

Mauritius

Mauritius The Prime Minister has put OLPC on his election manifesto of l'Alliance de l'Avenir. It states that Mauritius will participate in OLPC:

An OLPC Mauritius future

* Our vision is to make Mauritius one of the most connected nations in the world during the next five years. (Pg 41)
* We will introduce the program One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) (pg 41) / A computer for every child deprived / A computer for every teacher. (Pg 72)

Libya

I just saw that John Markoff wrote in the New York Times about Libya signing a contract with OLPC. The story says that four other countries have signed up, which was recently denied on this site. The tale gets 42000 hits on Google. So where is the press release? Where is the news story on this site? What actually happened?--Mokurai 02:23, 13 October 2006 (EDT)

Aha! It's not a contract, it's a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). OK. Now, can the rest of us have a look at the plan? It answers a lot of the questions being asked here and elsewhere, according to the description.

"The committee was presented with the outline of a comprehensive plan to distribute the laptops, create connectivity and server infrastructure, and prepare teachers and students."--Mokurai 17:32, 15 October 2006 (EDT)

What plan do you have for teacher training? I have been working in a staff development department of a school system that has been one-to-one for 6 years now. We have found that training teachers to integrate technology is as fundamental to the success of a one-to-one program as the hardware itself. If the Libyan teachers do not have extensive, well-organized training, the students of any program will be shortchanged. Jon Morris jjmorris@henrico.k12.va.us

The plan given to the Libyans addresses this. They seem very interested in the OLPC program. --Mokurai 17:39, 15 October 2006 (EDT)

Timor Leste (East Timor)

I am a volunteer IT worker here in Dili. I wish to follow through on getting the Government/Min of Education involved.
Is there a set of templates/docs/procedures for me to follow? If so, then I think that they would be very useful for other countries.
thanks chris
mansonc@usa.net

Caribbean Countries

I didn't see any of the Caribbean countries among the OLPC list. I work with a non-profit organization. One of the organization's mandate is to provide affordable computers to every home in the Caribbean. We sent an e-mail to OLPC asking for contact name and e-mail address in OLPC and got a reply from OLPC indicating that only the governments can purchase these laptops. If there is no Caribbean government in the list why not a non-profit organization like ours buy the laptops and distribute them? The reply e-mail also said that there is a staffing limitation. As the non-profit organization, we are saying that we are here to help. We are here to work with you. So please ensure that the bottlenecks are eliminated as they are found.

The list you see is merely the first round. It includes countries that have expressed interest in the program, and have the possibility of coming up with the $200 million required to order a million units. All other countries will have a chance in the next round, when smaller batches will be offered. --Mokurai 06:59, 21 November 2006 (EST)

Can you pls contact me as I'm going to talk on generating CO2e-certificates with OLPC and thus paying them, at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business – the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine (“Lok Jack GSB”) in Trinidad & Tobago. I've been paid for 2 months by OLPC to work on this. And cf. above note, since the first orders have been placed to enable a full-production line capacity for the first couple of years, the minimum orders have dropped considerably. Basically, if you can guarantee an order covering 1 region where all kids will have an OLPC, to prevent stealing, then OLPC is going to take things very seriously. --SvenAERTS 20:59, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Gambia

Can anyone tell me if Gambia is among the countries where the Ministry of Education has expressed an interest in this laptop project? Since it is such a small country (situated along the Gambia river in Senegal), I can't tell from the map.

Gambia is 'orange' (those countries who have expressed interest at the Ministry-of-Education level or higher). BTW, there is a higher-resolution version of the map in the section: #How does the color/status scheme work? that you can click to enlarge. --Walter 11:19, 10 January 2007 (EST)

Developed Nations

Are developed nations really not as interested in this device as it seems? Certainly it would seem that the support of a nation like the USA would be a huge boon to development and production. And distribution issues would seem to be virtually garuanteed. And the benefit to such a country seems to be revolutionary. Are there just too many obstacles?

But the UN is supporting the OLPC educational initiative to help reach e.g. Millennium Development Goal nr. 2 : Universal Primary Education. There's many pics of both Kofi ANNAN and Ban KI-MOON with the XO's. Or just google UNICEF and OLPC. More: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/What_the_UN/UNESCO_say_about_OLPC

What is stopping a nation like the USA from having one of these in every child's bookbag in 5 years? Anything besides willpower?

A number of US states are talking to OLPC about this. Maine and Georgia have similar programs now using conventional laptops. I am lobbying in California, and others are welcome to join OLPC4USA. --Mokurai 17:37, 6 July 2007 (EDT)

Laval University Canada

At Laval University, Quebec, Canada, we have plans to build on our Francophone university-school partnerships and university-developing countries normal school partnership with Gabon and begin a pilot project as soon as XOs become available to us. We are also working with the International Office of the Department of Education of Catalunya (Spain), an enduring university-ministry of education partnership over the past seven years, and plan initiatives in some Francophone countries south of the Mediterranean Sea (e.g. Senegal). [Written by: Therese Laferriere, tlaf@fse.ulaval.ca]

--Technology--

Design Decisions

Why is it important for each child to have a computer? What's wrong with community-access centers?

One does not think of community pencils—kids have their own. They are tools with which to think, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. A computer can be the same, but far more powerful. Furthermore, there are many reasons it is important for a child to “own” something—like a football, doll, or book—not the least of which is that these belongings will be well-maintained with love and care.

Nevertheless, the OLPCs do not stand alone. They communicate in an extended range wifi network. They can use USB devices that can be shared in a community access center. For instance a library of thousands of books can be cheaply distributed on a few CDs. These can reside in a community access center along with a few USB CD readers for the kids to download. The OLPC is not as limited by its storage capacity as it first seems.

With a laptop, learning can be in vivo, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and accessible to families and the entire community—this is tremendous leverage.

Desktops have a lower capital cost but higher operating costs. We are taking great care to keep the initial capital costs low, and to also minimize the computer failures that lead to costly maintenance. The OLPC laptops are low-power devices that consume less electricity than desktop computers.

Also, we feel that mobility is important, especially with regard to taking the computer home at night. Half the kids in the world don't have electricity at home - this is a real barrier for desktop computer use. Kids in the developing world need the newest technology, especially really rugged hardware and innovative software. Recent work with schools in Maine shows the huge value of laptop use across all of one's studies, as well as for play. Bringing the laptop home engages the family. In one Cambodian village where we have been working, there is no electricity, thus the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the home.

Finally, regarding recycled machines: if we estimate 100-million available used desktops, and even if each one requires only one hour of human attention to refurbish, reload, and handle, that is forty-five thousand work years. (This time could be better spent working on software, content, mentoring, etc.) Thus, while we definitely encourage recycling used computers, this is not the solution for One Laptop per Child.

Why not just give children cell phones?

While cell phones are inexpensive—and there is growing convergence between the technologies of telephony and computing—there are some differences that make the distribution of cell phones the wrong path to follow. Our project is not just a connectivity project, but also a learning project. The cellphone display is small. Even if the information is beamed from the cell phone to a television set, two major problems still exist: (1) half of the children in the world don't have electricity at home (and thus no television); and (2) standard television resolution is too low to read books or view webpages for an extended period of time. It's possible with HDTV, but HD has very limited presence in the Third World and is too expensive.

Cell phones are very limited in terms of their ability to foster a wide range of expression, and, unlike computing culture, which is as much about creating as consuming, phone culture is service oriented: you use a phone, you do not transform it. It is not a “thing to think with.”

Other Software questions

problems in selecting path

i am the stuedent of mscs. i am going to research. and i select olpc so
what are the shortcoming in this mesh network.

What will you do to emulate others that e-mail is a good and environment-friendly technology?

Software

What software will be included?

Without being picky, we prefer the term activities (instead of applications). That taken care of, the software components initially planned to be included are: the operating system, a web-browser, a document viewer, a text editor, chat client, and some programming environments.

Are kids expected to program the laptop?

Are kids expected to write novels after they learn to read & write? No.
Can they write novels? Theoretically yes, but most will never go past writing for fun.

The same with the laptops and programming: just because they may learn how to do things with the computer doesn't turn them into programmers. They aren't required to learn programming any more than they need to know how to write a novel.

But they can if they want to, after all everything included is Open Source—so they can tinker with all of it. And that's the reason why several programming languages or environments are included, not for them to program them (in the software development sense) but to do things with the laptop. Currently included you find Etoys, Python, TamTam, Turtle Art, and some others to be determined. Java is not amongst them.

Will software for MS-DOS or MS-Windows work on it?

No. MS-DOS programs (not MS-Windows) may benefit from a second life through the use of third-party emulators, but don't count on it.

What will the interface look like?

The interface used is Sugar, and because it's been designed for kids (not adults) it's based on a whole different set of premises and metaphors. See the OLPC Human Interface Guidelines.

Yes. The simplest way is to use an emulator and try it in your own computer.

Will the software be localized?

Yes. A major objective of the OLPC is that communities and their children preserve their cultural heritage and have the tools to bring it to the digital world—another reason for Open Source software. It won't be easy to support so many different languages, but who said otherwise? The community (national and global) is welcome to participate in the effort.

Other Software questions

How does the directory structure work for external storage devices and is there a way to hide files from the journal?

I have a G1G1 laptop and am exploring. I have added a 4GB SDHC card and it seems to be working fine, but it does not seem to allow for directory-style organization. All of the files appear in the journal, whether or not they are filed in directories or not. I've noticed this situation with USB sticks as well.

I have a number of ebooks on the card, as well as some downloads that I'd like to have should I re-install. Finally, I'd also like to install some programs (perhaps a stripped USB version of Firefox, for instance) and keep them on the card rather than using up space on the machine. But this would flood the journal with literally dozens of files under the current situation as I see it. Even sorting by file type (which the journal seems to be able to do) could get very messy - especially if I have a number of apps such as Firefox loaded.

Is there a way to hide files from the Journal?

Your issue has been noticed by many. Newer builds (the Joyride series, for now) cause the Journal to ignore external devices. There's some other way (I don't know what it is, though I know you can use ordinary Linux terminal commands) to access external storage devices.

mesh networking

in the interest of power saving, how can i disable mesh networking and the constant attempts to find school servers and other mesh networking partners? of course i want the "regular" wireless networking to continue to work. -- paul

USBs Blank

Not sure if this is the correct area. When I transfer files or activities from my XO to the USB and then to my PC, the files either never appear or are blank.

how to determine the version number of an installed activity

Is there a standard approach (like Help>About in Windows applications) to determine the version number of an OLPC activity? The wiki Activities page identifies the version number of each activity listed but how can a user determine if they have an older version of the activity (preinstalled and optional) on their laptop?

In the new Sugar GUI designs, this information is shown as part of the Home list view, but for currently released builds you'll need to use the Terminal activity, and enter the below command to search the two locations, ~/Activities/ and /usr/share/activities, that activities might be living in.

grep -r activity_version ~/Activities/ /usr/share/activities

Squeak, Simcity, etc. display size

the zoom in the browser is clear and works as expected, but there are other apps with no obvious zoom ...am i missing a universal zoom somewhere ??? For example, squeak's smalltalk coding screens and simcity screens have text too small to read...

There is no universal zoom in the GUI; sorry. SimCity was written for a larger screen with multiple windows, and the current version was a very quick port. The Micropolis version of SimCity should be much better, zoomable, etc, in six months or so. Gnu 23:32, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

XO not playing recorded video from previous session

My XO will not play recorded video if the XO has been turned off since the video was first created. Clicking on the item in Journal opens Browse, a file is downloaded, but after hitting 'OK' or 'Open' nothing happens. I'm not the only one who has experienced this problem - [New User Guide]. What to do?

installing dansguardian...

how do you download & install dansguardian using xo laptop terminal?

please leave step by step moron proof instructions. thank you.

Other Software than Sugar

Hello, I was wondering if it is possible to install Damn Small Linux (DSL) onto my 656 build XO laptop and if it is possible can I install it directly to the internal flash drive and use it as my operating system and delete the factory Sugar interface?

Redhat Remix linux organization?

yum installs everything, but then there seems to be something wrong with the recommended options given to configure: "./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc"

checking the config.log, it barfs on the gcc command (line 3679 of configure), not finding stdio.h!

and i don't find it in /usr/include, where i'd expect it to be?

can you explain how the (Fedora Remix?) distribution lays
out the standard linux directories, please?

(and why am i seeing this page, but not the Ask_OLPC_A_Question page, in Italian?!)

Kiosk mode / single Activity

Is there a good way to run a single Activity or application (in my particular case, I want to run a pygame application) and nothing else on startup? Something a bit like xguest, but without being able to switch to a console, etc?

-Ground-up design for efficient power consumption - several times less than many current laptops.

Maintenance

Another complaint from critics is the question who will maintain the laptops.

Maintenance will be done locally. The laptops have been designed so that it is easy to replace some of the major components without specialised tools. The expectation is that each school will have a person who is capable of swapping out bad parts and that they will be supported within the same organizational structures as the other school facilities.

How are these machines going to be dealt with at the end of their useful life?

What about the shear amount of waste these labtops are going to produce? Are we going to have landfills in third-world countries brimming with computers that outdated after 2 years? Does anyone know if any sustainable questions like these have been asked and if so where can I find out more information.
Lucy

We are doing a cradle-to-grave analysis of the laptop. We'll report more on the wiki when we have real data. --Walter 11:18, 25 August 2006 (EDT)

It would be great if you could look beyond cradle-to-grave strategies and consider cradle-to-cradle senerios where key parts and materials are reused/recycled for use in production of new laptops. Have you considered signing on to the EPEAT program which defines a set of environmental criteria for computer products? A few of the guidelines include:

The industry is way ahead of you.--Mokurai 19:38, 9 November 2006 (EST)

Nickel-cadmium batteries will not be used. NiMH or Lithium ion batteries are state of the art.

Where would mercury appear? The XO doesn't have fluorescent backlighting. It uses LEDs.

Tin-lead solder works better than the current alternatives, but is not required.

There is no excuse for hexavalent chromium to appear in a laptop. (Erin Brockovich found it in drinking water near a chemical plant.)

I have never heard of flame retardants on a computer. That's been an issue with clothing, not electronics.

Plasticizers are used to soften plastics. There is no reason for them to be used in a rigid plastic case, keycaps, or any other part of the Laptop other than a tiny amount of wire insulation inside the case. You might get some Diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) in the insulation.

PVC is solid, does not dissolve in water, and is extremely non-reactive. However, it will not be used in the Laptop. It is much better suited to use as water and waste piping.

Plastic parts for computers are likely to be made from Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS, which is the material for Lego bricks. The standard for such toys is no toxicity when children put them in their mouths. --Mokurai 19:38, 9 November 2006 (EST)

The limiting factor on computer life is not materials, but electronics obsolescence. It is conceivable that the Laptops could be made so that the screen and motherboard could be replaced to create the next model. Since almost all the cost is in the screen and motherboard, it is not clear what the advantage would be, compared with the psychological advantage of all-new computers for the children every few years.--Mokurai 19:38, 9 November 2006 (EST)

I have suggested that schoolchildren might get OLPC laptops or other computers in first, fifth, and ninth grades. A four-year lifetime is a bit long, but not horrible. When more money is available to schools, it could be reduced to three years, in grades 1 4 7 10. The first day of school each year would include exchanging computers for grades 5 9 or 4 7 10, and copying all of the work from previous years to the new, more capacious storage media. At this point, it becomes economical to take all of the old computers from each school to a regional or national recycling center for processing. Handling millions of the same system would allow much greater efficiency in recycling than you get with the usual hodge-podge of all ages and kinds of equipment. --Mokurai 19:38, 9 November 2006 (EST)

Battery Recyling

State of the art NiMH batteries still shouldn't be thrown into landfills or burned...When the batteries wear out will there be an exchange program? Or will they just be junking up the villages? 69.153.191.101 20:40, 16 February 2007 (EST)